WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - This Week in Western Civilization: April 6-12

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

This week, Olivia Finch discusses the anniversaries of the birth of John Madden, the death of Igor Stravinsky, and the discovery of the Venus de Milo.

Welcome to this week in Western Civilization on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Olivia Finch, bringing new snapshots of history in context. Hello, everyone. Today we'll be covering one important birth, one important death, and one notable event that happened between April 5th and April 11th in Western Civ. On April 10, 1936, American football coach and sports commentator John Madden, was born in Austin, Minnesota. Madden is best known for being one of the greatest football coaches of all time, never having a losing season, and leading his team, the Oakland Raiders, to seven playoffs, eight division titles,

seven AFL-AFC championships, and their first Super Bowl win in 1977. After retiring from coaching, he became a color commentator for NFL Telecasts, winning 16 Sports Emmy Awards for his work. something at half time. I had no idea what it meant, but I heard it someplace, and it sounded like a pretty good idea. The last thing I'd say was, don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon. Let's go. I have no idea what it meant, but some guys kind of got excited

what I said. On April 6, 1971, Russian composer, conductor, and pianist Igor Stravinsky died of heart failure at the age of 88 in New York City. Stravinsky is best known for his over 100 compositions, including five symphonies, several pieces for string quartet, several sonatas, and the ballets, the firebird, and the controversial right of spring. On April 8, 1820, a Greek farmer and a French sailor interested in archaeology discovered pieces of a Greek statue buried on the island of Milos. When they kept digging, they uncovered two large pieces of the statue, the torso and legs, along with several fragmentary pieces, such as that of one of the statue's arms, a hand holding an apple, and the left foot.

The Venus de Milo is now one of the world's most famous ancient Greek statues and is now displayed in the Louvre. You've been listening to this week in Western Civilization with Olivia Finch on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I'll see you next week.